Wednesday, September 25, 2013

So I have wanted to blog about this for about a week now but I have been in the middle of moving and haven't had any internet...however I am so excited to announce that I have been selected to be a Swirlgear Brand Ambassador!

This is an awesome new women's workout clothing company and they have the cutest things and the colors are great. For all of you RunDisney girls they have some great yellow shirts that would look great for a Belle Costume! Go and check out the website www.swirlgear.com and when you order something type in the promo code "swirlon" to get free shipping! I know you will fall in love with their clothing! And keep checking back to see what new clothes they come out with!

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Following the race we all got ready to head to the parks, I was so relieved that the race was over and that it went to well. I knew it would, and I knew that I was trained more then enough for it, it was just the anticipation and the unknown of it all that scared me!I couldn't wait to get dressed and head out wearing my medal proudly. I had seen everyone with their 10k medal the day before and I was so jealous, but today was my day!

With my medal and half marathon t-shirt on and all my buttons lined up I was ready for the day. We met up and headed to Cars Land first, when I got outside I was so happy that I was in an early corral and that I had trained enough to finished with a ok time (2:16) because at this point it was HOT! I felt so bad for the people who were still finishing because it had to be the hottest day since we had arrived.

We walked around California Adventures for a while doing the Cars race track and then split up so Luke and I could do Tower of Terror again and just enjoyed our last day.

As for my final thoughts on my first RunDisney race...I LOVED it! Yes there were some thing I wasn't crazy about such as the craziness of the expo and parts of the race were a bit boring but they do have to find a 13.1 mile route so not all the parts are going to be amazing, however running through the parks in the dark all lit up and then through Angels Stadium were experiences that will make you forget any part that might not have been so great. And the best part.....What other race have you run where you can wear your medal from the end of the race through the entire day and even the next day and the next day in Disneyland! You can't beat that! The feeling you have after finishing the race and people congratulating you all day will make you want to continue signing up for these races! I will go back to Disneyland next year and get my coast to coast medal (I am running the Glass Slipper Challenge in February!!!!!) and I will run the Dumbo Double Dare! My mom has already said she wants to start training to run the half with me as well! I can't wait for my next RunDisney Race!!

Thursday, September 5, 2013

FINALLY RACE DAY!! The day I had countdowns all over the place for, the day I had been planned six months of training runs for, the day I wished my summer away for, was finally here and I could hardly contain myself!!!!I woke up around three, I had my alarm set for 3:10 however after watching the clock since pretty much 1:00 am I decided to just get up. I tried to be as quiet as possible since Luke was still sleeping and had gone to bed much later then I had however my nerves were crazy and being quiet just wasn't in the cards. I showered and taped up any, and everything I thought might hurt during the race. I had to walk around the park all day after the race proudly showing off my medal and didn't want my body to ache! I was ready in no time, outfit on, sneakers tied up and comfortable, KT Tape looking great, and it was barely 4, I needed to chill out for a minute!I sent a text to my mom around 4:15 "Hey are you up? aren't you going to walk with me down to the start line?!" several minutes later I got one back clearly I had woken her up " I just woke up, I thought you didn't start until 5:30?" in which I replied "Yeah but I have to be down their earlier and you're coming right?!" The same conversation went down with Luke who was not happy to be up so early. We met in the lobby and made our way out to the start line.Now for the record I am never typically this nervous for a race, yeah I have some pre race jitters but this was not like me. I think the mixture of excitement and not knowing what to expect was making me crazy! The corrals were very close to our hotel (the Disneyland Hotel), the start and finish line were basically right out front which was great. Luke and my Mom were allowed to walk with me right up to my corral.

We parted ways and I waited patiently for the race to start. The corrals were very organized and not super crowded which I liked. I was in corral B which was great because we went off about ten minutes after the first corral. With each corral start they did it the same as the first with fireworks and everything!

Finally it was our time to start and I couldn't wait! We crossed the start line and were off. We first ran down a street that seemed to be in front of the Disneyland Hotel but was a main road and then made our way through the back entrance of California Adventures. It was was still dark out so all of the lights were on and the rides were going. Their were characters stationed through out that you could take pictures with but I just took pictures with my phone while running by.

From California Adventures we headed over to Disneyland and ran right down Main Street USA around the park and then out through Sleeping Beauty's Castle. We were only about three miles in at this point and then we headed out through Anaheim for the remainder of the race. This was a bit boring for a while, but then we ran through a section of old antique cars which was pretty cool. Also the number of spectators just around the city was amazing even early in the morning there were people out their cheering you on it was great and really kept me going. Right before mile ten we made our way into Angles stadium which was awesome! I knew this part was going to be cool but it honestly gave me goosebumps while running through. The crowds in the stands and the runners up on the jumbotron, the whole thing was just so amazing!

After leaving the stadium we only had a 5K left, we were almost done! The sun started to get hot at this point but it was not that bad, and it was behind me so not blaring in my face which I was happy about. As I made my way around the back of the park again we were almost their! I was so excited their were bands playing and people everywhere, and before I knew it I was passing the big hat by our hotel room and crossing the finish line!

I felt great after finishing, I saw my Mom and Luke said hi, and walked over to get my medal and finishers picture!

It wasn't super crowded when I finished so it was easy to get around and find everyone. RunDisney was great with water and snacks after the race also during the race their were more then enough water and fuel stations so you didn't need to worry about bringing a fuel belt! Even in the hot temperatures I was fine and their were enough water stations. The were plenty of volunteers everywhere handing things out to eat and drink as well as ice packs. I grabbed one to cool off but it was just something extra to hold.

I ended up sitting down and stretching for a little bit after I found everyone. After that we all headed over to downtown disney for breakfast, I was so excited to be finished and to show off my awesome medal all day!

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

I will try to make this part a bit more interesting then the last! Friday morning we got up nice and early, we had planned on going to breakfast and then to number pick up and the expo. When I woke up I had a text from my mom saying someone working at the hotel said that we could pick up our numbers at nine which we had originally thought was ten. At this point it was about 8:40 so we headed down to wait in line. We waited and waited and nine quickly came and went and we were still in line not moving at all. Turns out number pick up did start at ten, however we were one of the first twenty people or so in line, so that ended up working out in our favor.

The line went down this ramp into a garage type building. Finally it was ten and they started letting us in, I ran to pick my number up and headed upstairs not knowing that the GET travel booth was downstairs where I needed to pick up my park tickets. I headed upstairs thinking I was going to have to wait in the expo line which was now wrapping around the building. However the people working said if you have your number then you can go right in and pass everyone in line!

The Expo was crazy in the rundisney booth! I have never seen so many people just grabbing handfuls of clothing and getting in line to buy them. The line was so long I just skipped that area and went to shirt pickup. I did stop at raw threads along the way and bought a boston strong tank top!

I was probably one of the first to pick up my race t-shirts grabbed that and then headed out only to realize we had forgotten our park tickets. A nice disney cast member let us use the elevator downstairs to get back to number pick up and grab our park tickets. We were out of the expo by 10:30 record time if I do say so myself!

Later on that day I realized my race t-shirt even though it was a size small was longer on me then most dresses I wear, there was a place to exchange your shirt which I went back to several times to get an extra small but no such luck. I ended up buying a t-shirt later on that day at the rundisney booth when the line had gone way down! The Expo and number pick up were crazy and hectic and not something I wanted to spend anymore time at. It was so stressful and didn't need to be. I was not a fan of this whole experience at all!

Following that chaos we were off to grab some breakfast quickly at the earl of sandwich in Downtown Disney and then off to California Adventures!

We got in very quickly and ran straight to Tower of Terror but of course saw Mickey when we first stepped through the gates and had to stop to take a picture with him.

The rest of the day we spent at California Adventures went to Tower of Terror, grabbed some awesome Minnie ears, and rode the rides all day. The lines were not that bad but it was hot out! We ended up mid day going to see the Aladdin show so we could be inside for an hour or so, and the show ended up being very good! Later that night we went back to Downtown Disney for dinner, we ate at the House of Blues, and then headed back to California Adventures for the World of Color Show!

On to Saturday....one day before the race! I started to get really nervous on Saturday. I kept thinking on no what if I don't finish, what if I run awful. The heat and the humidity were getting really bad and I was so stressed out it was going to be awful the next morning. I tried to not think about this as we headed to Disneyland that day. Once again when we first got in, it wasn't that crowded we went straight to Thunder Mountain Railroad which ended up being closed and then over to Indian Jones which was having technical difficulties. We were really striking out, we went over to Pirates of the Caribbean which was only a ten minute wait and our day took off from there!

We went on Star Tours, Buzz Lightyear, finally Indian Jones, Splash Mountain (several times) and many more, we went back over to California Adventures again to play some games at paradise pier and to go on on Toy Story again and then headed back to the room to rest.

I tried on and laid out my clothes for race morning. I had to make sure everything was feeling ok! Made sure I had enough KT Tape that was all cut and ready to go and watched the videos on how to put it on like fifty times even though I already have it memorized I didn't want to miss a step. I was slightly starting to freak out a bit which is not exactly like me. Pinned my number on my shirt and made sure there was no room for error come 3am the next morning!

We then hung out in the room for a bit and headed over to load up on the carbs for the big day tomorrow! I had to force myself to eat since I didn't have an appetite at all, but I knew I was going to need the energy in the morning. I headed to bed around 9:30 luckily I was tired but then woke up at 1:00 and watched the clock until 3:00 where I decided that was good enough and got up! Today was the day I had been training for, for months now!